The Ethiopian Community Development Council is America's only resettlement agency that is community-based and refugee-led. We at ECDC believe that refugee resettlement works only when the entire community is involved and when refugees themselves are in the lead.
A year ago, none of us could have imagined that the emergency evacuation of Kabul would have brought us together as a community to welcome 100 new refugees to southern Vermont.
We can be extremely proud of everything that we have been able to achieve together. We created a new organization, a new school, a new community center, a new Islamic prayer space (the first in southern Vermont!).
After just a few months with us, our new Afghan neighbors are already contributing so much to our communities because of the extraordinary level of support and community engagement here.